Odetta Kaonda

Odetta Kaonda is the founder of Mother Earth Initiative, a nonprofit based in Blantyre, Malawi. Established in 2018, the organisation works to empower children, young people and women through education and through practical approaches to environmental conservation.

Its current campaign is a 365 Days of Tree Planting Challenge, launched in line with the 2025/2026 national forestry season, under which the initiative plants at least one tree every day without fail and also joins tree-planting events at schools and in communities. At the point of reporting, 630 trees had gone in, against a target of 10,000 by the end of the challenge, spread across Traditional Authorities Kapeni and Chigaru in Blantyre district and Traditional Authority Chitera in Chiradzulu. The work is carried out with Seventeen Active Youth Organisation and with community-based natural resource conservation structures.

Kaonda's emphasis is on what happens after planting. The initiative tracks survival rates so that the trees establish and provide vegetative cover that protects against land degradation, and she describes the aim as making tree planting a culture in Malawi rather than a one-off ceremony. She takes part in IPC16, the International Permaculture Convergence, in Thailand in 2026.